As a type of short-distance communication network, a communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification has been known (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example). In the communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification, one of a plurality of communication terminals participating in a network functions as a master having an access point function, and the rest of the communication terminals function as slaves of the master. Compared with a Wi-Fi Ad-hoc network in which only one-to-one connection is available, a communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification has features that one-to-many connection is available, communication between slaves can be established via the master, security strength is relatively high, and the like. As such, a communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification has been used in various applications such as data sharing, recently. The present invention relates to a method of configuring such a communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification. However, application of the present invention is not limited to a communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification.
Patent Document 1 describes an exemplary method of configuring a communication network conforming to the Wi-Fi Direct specification. In Patent Document 1, in order to exchange P2P (Peer to Peer) capability information, each communication terminal is able to exchange information with another communication terminal to request establishment of a P2P connection, without user intervention. When exchanging the P2P capability information, parameter information showing a connection type (Wi-Fi Direct, or the like), a protocol, corresponding authentication, a security method, or the like is exchanged. Then, based on the found P2P type or the like, each communication terminal determines whether or not to establish a P2P connection with another communication terminal. For example, a communication terminal requests a connection with another communication terminal via the network connection type of Wi-Fi Direct, in order to use a VoIP service. In the process, the case of establishing a P2P connection between only two communication terminals and the case of establishing a P2P connection among two or more communication terminals are exemplary shown.
Patent Document 1: JP 2013-507029 A
Non-Patent Document 1: Wi-Fi Alliance Technical Committee P2P Task Group Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Technical Specification Version 1.1